The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A new government-sponsored watchdog website will allow citizens to track stimulus-funded projects. It's an effort to insure accountability. Neal Pierce wonders if that accountability will translate into smarter patterns of development.

March 2 - Citiwire

FEATURE

A new design competition is seeking solutions to L.A.'s transportation problems. But the real solution may not have anything to do with transportation at all.

March 2 - Nate Berg

This commentary from <em>re:place</em> magazine offers tips and insights into how one can ride transit like a pro.

March 1 - re:place

BLOG POST

<p> <span style="font-size: 11pt"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Architecture is certainly headed for its own version of the Big Bang. A density of firms are simmering with scarce backlog, delinquent collections, looming layoffs, high overhead, low morale as weakened management relies on a foggy stimulus package to forestall an explosion of great magnitude. After the inevitable, our profession will reconstitute based on a new chemistry.

March 1 - Rick Abelson

The Los Angeles suburb of Industry has approved plans to build a stadium in the city in hopes of luring a football team back to the L.A. area.

March 1 - Associated Press

The new federal budget represents a broad increase in funding for urban programs. New York in particular is to benefit greatly from the new spending plan.

March 1 - New York Daily News

The City of Denver plans to spend more than $15 million over the next decade to purchase real estate near mass transit.

March 1 - The Denver Post

The federal stimulus package has made infrastructure into a hot topic among states. But, as Mary Newsom writes, states are not addressing the land use patterns that drive up the costs and bring down the efficiency of infrastructure.

March 1 - Citiwire

The Midwest has high hopes on capturing a big chunk of the federal stimulus money directed towards high speed rail projects.

February 28 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A new plan is taking form in Brazil to regularize titles to rainforest land -- an effort the government hopes will fight deforestation.

February 28 - The Economist

A boomtown in the desert that was expected to grow in population to more than 350,000 by 2020 is going bust, and putting things in perspective as the economy dives and foreclosures spread.

February 28 - The Wall Street Journal

This piece ponders whether slum tourism in places like Dharavi and the favelas of Brazil is a valid form of cultural exchange or merely voyeuristic exploitation?

February 28 - National Geographic Traveler

This brief from the <em>New York Times</em> outlines how federal budget money will be used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

February 28 - The New York Times

At Yale, a modernist landmark is preserved and revitalized. Ada Louise Huxtable looks at the challenges in updating the harshness of brutalist architecture.

February 27 - The Wall St. Journal

Edmonton Alberta is planning to go from a "somewhat bike friendly city to a very bike friendly city." But can it afford it during a recession?

February 27 - CBC

A mapping project has laid out a blueprint for the location of new green energy sites in British Columbia. Officials are hoping it will help guide the province towards more sustainable growth, but others worry it will encourage sprawl.

February 27 - The Tyee

Mayor Bloomberg and Janette Sadik-Khan have unveiled plans to turn a large segment of midtown into a pedestrian-only thoroughfare. The bold move is being applauded by livable street advocates across the United States.

February 27 - Streetsblog

Ex-assemblyman Bill Maze is backing a plan to divide California in two, separating conservative Central California from the liberal coast. This is the 27th attempt on record to divide the state.

February 27 - The Sacramento Bee

Sightline's Clark Williams-Derry looks at low gas prices, a down economy, and vehicle-miles-traveled, noting that the precipitous declines in VMT have halted, and suspects it may plateau.

February 27 - WorldChanging

Starting with a tony 5-floor, 7,500 square foot townhouse on the Upper East Side, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has quietly bought 4 of the 6 neighboring townhouse apartments and combined them into what is now a 12,500 square foot mansion.

February 27 - New York Times